The Cassation Court Did Not Change the Sentence Imposed on Anna Lokhvitskaya from Birobidzhan for Her Faith

On September 21, 2022, the Ninth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in the city of Vladivostok upheld the sentence imposed on Anna Lokhvitskaya from Birobidzhan—a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for her belief in Jehovah God.

The criminal prosecution of the Lokhvitsky family began in May 2018 when searches were carried out in the home of Anna and her husband and in the home of her mother-in-law. Later, in 2019, the FSB initiated a case against Anna's husband, Artur Lokhvitsky, and about a year later, Anna herself and her mother-in-law, Irina, were accused of extremism.

On July 20, 2021, the Birobidzhansky District Court sentenced Anna Lokhvitskaya to a two-and-a-half-year suspended prison sentence. The believer filed an appeal, but the Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region did not grant it.

In her cassation appeal, Anna stated that she was a "victim of discrimination" and a "victim of arbitrary criminal prosecution." She also pointed out that during the entire period of the investigation and trial, her rights guaranteed to her as a citizen of Russia, including freedom of religion and of expression and respect for personal life, family life, and home, were repeatedly violated.

Artur Lokhvitsky and his mother, Irina Lokhvitskaya, were also given two-and-a-half-year suspended prison sentences. The cassation court upheld these judgments.